US shutdown workers seek loans, jobs

Rachael Weatherly is a senior adviser for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, but she's considering trying to get a job at a grocery store.

Weatherly is among the 800,000 federal employees who aren't getting pay cheques for the first time on Friday because of the lingering government shutdown.

They are scaling back spending, cancelling trips, applying for unemployment benefits and taking out loans to stay afloat, with no end in sight for a partial shutdown that enters its 21st day on Friday and will be the longest in history by this weekend.

Weatherly, a Maryland resident and mother of two young children, said a recent separation from her spouse drained her bank account, and she's just beginning to re-establish her savings. She can't afford to miss one pay cheque.

"I filed for unemployment. I'm waiting for that to come through," she said.

Weatherly said her day care provider agreed to defer payments, as did her mortgage company. But she still worries any late mortgage payments could negatively affect her credit score. The uncertainty, she said, is heightening her concerns.

"I just don't see how this is going to end," she said.

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Roughly 420,000 federal employees were deemed essential and are working unpaid. An additional 380,000 are staying home without pay. While furloughed federal workers have been given back pay in previous shutdowns, it's not guaranteed that will happen this time.

Government contractors, who have been placed indefinitely on unpaid leave, don't get compensated for lost hours.

Most of the government workers received their last pay cheque two weeks ago, and Friday will be the first payday with no money. Around the country, some workers are relying on donations, including launching GoFundMe campaigns. Food pantries have opened up in several locations.

Tiauna Guerra, one of 3750 furloughed IRS workers in Ogden, Utah, has been trying to get a job but said employers don't want to hire her when she explains her situation because they don't want to lose her in a few weeks.

In the meantime, she is taking out a loan to make her car payment, and she and her husband are delaying plans to move out of her parents' house until the shutdown ends.

"We're barely getting by," said Guerra, mother of two small children. "We are not able to pay a lot of our bills. We're having a hard time trying to buy gas, food."